There are some real soul sucking letters in my box today. I'm
sure there's some good ones in here too, like this first one I'm going to print is just going
to be fun to answer. Still, a ton just make me groan and want to do something else. Either that
or it's the combination of VP being really really fun, and the fact that this soda is diet, therefore
contains Nutrisweet, and nutrisweet makes me tired. ANYWAY... enough incoherent rambling...
let me just grab some Wakeup Pills (M&Ms). AHA! It worked! The real sugar counteracted the evil
immitation life stealing sugar! Now I'm awake and happy and want to do the column! Oh, and it's
3 AM... better hurry. By the way, Gin is partially recovered from having ticked off Thor, so he
will be doing Q&A as normal.

1) What is this rpgmaker2k thing? I have been hearing a lot of buzz on
this and I have no clue what it is! I gather that its a program that
allows you to make an rpg but other than that... ? (besides where would I
start if I wanted to participate)

2) Is it safe to say that theres no chance that there is no secret
charecters in chrono cross? (I mean other than whats in the strategy
guide)

3) In your opinion which is a better game? Chrono Cross? or Xenogears? I
am personally vieing for xenogears.... it just seems better to me. dont
ask me why, Chrono trigger is still the best game ever.

4) I am making a comic strip of some of the rpgamer staff, using
charecters from chrono trigger (i have no talent on my own...), and I was
wondering what charecters you think would best fit your charictoral
image? so far i was thinking of using the alkaline image for you, and
alfadors image for paws, but the rest of the staff i have no idea.... so
if you could help me out a little.... ^_^

5) uhhhhh..... Chrono trigger rules!!!

6) what was your final times for beating chrono trigger, cross, and
xenogears? if you got them handy that is!

thats all for now

~:Lunar Moses:~

**answering the neverending plea for letters**

Googleshng:OK... RPG Maker 2000 is the PC version
of a PSX RPG making utility. It's pretty limited, but it's also simple. Your second
question is worded too confusingly to answer... I believe there's 44 characters, takes
3 passes to get'em all. CC and Xenogears aren't dirrectly comparable, so, pass. Times:
CT: 5 years, or do you mean until I FIRST won? Xenogears: 80 hours. CC: 30 hours. Your
fourth question though is just a fun kind to answer. Want the ENTIRE staff? Here's everyone
I can think of a good one for. Let's see... Mikel Tidwell (da boss)=Ozzie.
Don't ask me why, he just does. Dan Calderman (Head of NM)=Frog. Again, you'd have to
know him to get why. Chronodin would be Chrono obviously. Rob Hamilton a Nu by his own
request. Paws obviously a cat. Gin: Tata (look at his sig pic!). Scar a reptite. Silkenray
Lucca (hyperactivity). Alanna Ayla (likes to hug). I would be Flea (ambiguous gender),
and nobody else really junbs out at me... except that Doug Hill (news head forever) and
Martin Drury (scary old hermit who reads stuff sent to webmaster) should be generic old
geezers. Oh, and nobody gets Magus, because, well, none of us are that cool. 8)

Emulation is bad, m'kay?

Hey Goog,
Just wondering what you thought about the whole emulation "scene". I mean
mainly for systems like SNES and the Genesis. I mean it is sorta illegal but
on the other hand it's not hurting anyone.

~DrkImperial

Googleshng:You know, there are places where you can
buy NES games NEW still, so the "not hurting anyone" angle doesn't really fly. Here's
my basic take on the matter. Emulating a recent game is just pure evil. Emulating a really
old game is a tad evil, and it's more fun for me at least to actually hunt them down.
Emulating untranslated (old) games is not really morally wrong, since the publisher won't
sell you the game, it's not like you can give them money for it anyway. It is however
still illegal, just not immoral, and therefore I don't emulate anything at all myself.
8)

People should just echange e-mails.

Heys Goog,

I remember someone pointing out that Chronodin uses a hammer in those little
comics I do or in those CG pics by Guif (cool stuff by the way Guif.) But
Chronodin uses a scythe! I use a hammmer! And for clarification,
Chronodin wears the big hat with the clock on it and I have the funky hair.
Now I gotta get a Gin comic up...oh geez, my space exploration notes were 6
pages long on the first day *gak* need weekend!

-Radrisol-

Googleshng:Quit dropping these ´s will you?
Am I the only one who finds it odd that people who make odd little end of column things
are now having conversations through me?

EH?!?

I thought your comments regarding Chrono Cross were right on the money.
Indeed the ever anticipated sequal to Chrono Trigger is far from the lever
of it's predecessor. I am a die hard Chrono Trigger fan, and I took Chrono
Cross back after three hours of play.

The reason Chrono Trigger was so unike and successful was because of the
simplicity of the system used throughout the game. Chrono Trigger was new
and innovative when it was released on the SNES. Chrono Cross, on the other
hand, looks and feels like every other PSX RPG out there. After three hours
of play I said "they need to take the word Chrono out of the title". Chrono
Cross is an excellent stand alone game, but it should NOT be the sequal to
Chrono Trigger.

What is wrong with calling this game Radical Dreamers?

- Mr. Christopher

Googleshng:I believe you have some wires crossed
there. CT is a pretty darn generic game. The mechanics are just like everything else
around at the time except for the combo thing. The plot's spiffy, but that applies to
all Square games. Plus it game out after all the weird 16-bitters. Chrono Cross on the
other hand has no EXP, MP, or inititive meters. Hard to get more innovative than that!
As for your last comment... keep playing. CC ties into CT BIGTIME towards the end. Oh,
and since RD is the game CC is based off, that'd just be confusing.

Googleshng:This is what that person yesterday really
wanted to know too. Here's the big secret for you. In Japan, everyone has the same hair
color. In manga, everyone has the same hair color (since manga=black and white). However,
when you have an animated series, you have to put up with animators who can't capture
the original artist's style well enough to REALLY show the differences in characters, so
a convention evolved around using funky hair colors to make characters easier to tell
apart... plus it looks cool. RPGs just copy anime in that respect. Oh, and by the way,
that also means that funky hair colors in most anime are just there for the audience's
benefit and not meant to be the character's actual hair color (usually at least). So, for
example, Ranma's hair doesn't change color in warm or icy water as far as Ryoga's concerned.
It's always black. They just color it red to scream at the viewers "GIRL".

Am I the only one that thought the time in Chrono Cross when _____ had
been turned into ____ was kinda slow and boring and overly long? I
mean, it started out really cool, but quickly degenerated into running
around in the same areas too many times.

Anyway, I just wanted to offer the opinion that FF3 does NOT suck! It
has basically the same job system that 5 does, it's the second most
difficult of the series, there is some semblance of an interesting plot,
and um, you can make your whole party Dark Knights! Dark Knights that
fight with katanas!

Googleshng:Uh... FF3's job system is kind of like FF5's
except without being able to gain abilites from that job over time, combining aspects
of two different jobs, or having any real reason to stick with jobs at all I suppose.
While it's better than FF1, that doesn't give me the same kind of happy feeling FF5's
does. As for your comment about the second hugest CC spoiler, I liked that whole part
of the game... but know people who hated it.

Quickies

Would *you* laugh at me if I ran from battles in Chrono Cross?

-wobuzhudao

Yes.

Those were some big quickies. By the way, Birdhouse In Your Soul, great song
:)

~Matt

Isn't it though?

You know, it's a good thing Gungnir can't miss, because my depth perception
really went down the crapper when i went to that well. God, the things i do
for wisdom...

~Odin

I'm a sucker for the Norse jokes.

Bartz from FF5, Angela from Seiken Denetsu 3 (though she's only one of the
main characters), Red of SaGa Frontier (though Blue doesn't ... huh?) and Umi
of Magic Knight Rayearth also all have blue hair.

Christoph

Bartz has brown hair, Angela's changes (Starts purple) so nyah. I did forget Umi though... still,
I was just listing what I could see.

Thanks to all the videogames and anime I enjoy, I'm turning Japanese. I think
I'm turning Japanese, I really think so!

Me too. ^_^

i thought women can't be color blind.... i could be wrong though.

Paws is female, and colorblind, so, yup, you're wrong. 8)

It's my birthday but I'm probly too late for quickies. I spent 2 hours in the first dungeon of Valkyrie
Profile. I suck.

Ikari_Gendo

Happy birthday.

The Last Laugh:

DOH! I spent 5 hours digging through my letters looking for one asking about VP's
mechanics and NOW I find two. Figures. I'll send a big ol' summary to Gin tomorrow, how's
that?